I personally prefer to read books in the order that they were published, not the order that the publisher decides to tack onto the book series after it has been out for 30+ years. I am speaking of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. I first read them when I was about 10 years old. My father had the books in a box set (1970-something printing of them, I forgot the exact date) and they are numbered in the order of publication. If you go out now to buy a box set, or better yet, one of those nifty huge compilation books with all 7 novels contained in one big brick of a book, you will see that the order of the books has mysteriously changed. "Why?" you ask. Because the books were not written in chronological order. So, anyone who decides to read these books now, and who wouldn't necessarily know any better, will unknowingly read the books in whatever order that is put in front of them. Which makes perfect sense.
The order I read them: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magicians Nephew, The Last Battle.
The order you will now find them in: The Magicians Nephew, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Last Battle.
In all honesty, I truly enjoyed reading the books in the original published order better, I think, than I would have if I had read them in chronological order. Each book was incredibly entertaining alone, but reading them and realizing as I read where each book fit into the timeline of Narnia made them even more exciting! It was like finding a lost treasure! You start out with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and get sucked in by the story and then 6 books later you read about how it all came to exist. The main characters that you knew and loved from the first book are slowly removed from your focus so you are able to see the "big picture." It is very exciting!
I want anyone who decides to pick up The Chronicles of Narnia to be able to enjoy them the way I did. Reading them in the order that I did allowed me to explore and discover the world and the characters because I had to think about what I was reading and relate it all together, rather than just eating up what the author was writing. Does that make sense?
This makes me think of Anne McCaffrey. She is another author whose books intertwine characters and timeslines. She writes wonderful books if you're into fantasy/dragons/scifi stuff. (The scifi aspect of her books doesn't come around until some of the later ones, but it's there none the less.) I had to read one of her books as part of a summer reading list in high school. At first I wasn't really impressed. I found it difficult to get into the story, but to be honest with you, it having been a summer reading book, may have had a bit to do with it. I have always loved reading, but sometimes those summer reading books were just awful.
Anyway, once I was hooked I couldn't get enough. I just kept reading her books. (No, I have not read them publication order. I started reading these before I really had an opinion about it.) I loved the characters (Masterharper Robinton is one of my favorites) and I wanted to keep reading more about this civilization on the planet Pern. From what I can tell, anything that she wrote in the Pern series is all somehow related, but not in the chronological way you usually see in book series. She writes small series within the Pern universe and they take place all over the timeline. I really enjoy how she writes the same scene from different perspectives and uses that scene to link multiple series together. It's very cool, and is fun to figure out while you're reading.
Sooo, while I generally prefer to read things in the order they were originally published, I guess that it doesn't really matter what order you read things in, as long as you enjoy what you're reading! What do you think? Would you rather read something in the published order or the chronological order?
~Mich
2 comments:
I think it can really depend on the story. In the case of Narnia I didn't start into it until just before the movie came out. So the publication I bought has them in the chronological order as opposed to published order. It does state that the chronological order is what C.S. Lewis preferred, it's just that he had a preferred interest in how to get the story out there to get readers hooked. (I'm paraphrasing.) The reason for the chronological order in new publications is because he really had a preference for how it should be presented. It's kind of the same thing as when a movie presents something differently than a book: it wants to grab the attention of the audience to make sure it HAS an audience.
The other spectrum is something like Wheel of Time, where the series is primarily chronological, but after 10 books there was a prequel. The prequel is not necessary for understanding the rest of the series but it does add to it. One could opt to begin there or where the author first published and it won't matter.
And then there's the conundrum: Star Wars. Awesome trilogy. Then Lucas wanted to perform fanservice by giving backstory. We end up with Episodes 1 through 3 of weird followed by episodes 4 through 6 of old school. It kind of ruins the whole experience.
I've come to the conclusion that published is generally the way to experience something because it reflects more on the absolute brainwave of creativity the author/director had. Chronological tends to become a retcon, which can sometimes work, but doesn't always, or usually.
I agree, it does depend on the story. I did know that Lewis preferred chronological order, but I promptly ignored that fact after reading it, haha. I've been watching the cartoon of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe since I was 5 so it will always be book number 1 to me.
I definitely understand wanting/needing to grab the reader's attention to make sure that you have an audience, but isn't it a bit late for that? They made the cartoon, they made a BBC serial of the first four books, they're making movies of the books, and in every instance it starts with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (and continues on in the original publication order). It seems almost odd that they would change the book order only for the new books even if it was what Lewis originally wanted.
I also agree with your conclusion, hehe. :-)
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